Means for forming



' (No Model.) '2 Sheets-Shet 1.

P. ECAUBERT. MEANS FOR FORMING SPEOTAOLB BOW WIRE ORIOTH'ER ARTIGLES.

No. 498,466. Patented May so, 1893.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

F. EGAUBERT. MEANS r03 FORMING SPEGTAGLE BOW WIRE OR OTHER ARTICLES.

No. 498,466. Patented May 30, 1893."

0: pnovmuma, WASHiNGYON. 01:.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEu FREDERIO EOAUBERT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR FORMING SPLlCTACLE-BOW WIRE OR OTHER ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATIONforming part of Letters Patent No. 498,466, dated May 30,1893. Application filed February 9, 1893- Serial No.461,556. (No model.)

other substances had been passed through between pairs of rollers, suchrollers having grooves or ribs or recesses acting to shape the materialpassed through between them. Rollers of this character have been used inthe manufacture of pipes, horse-shoe nail blanks,

barbs for wire fences, 850., and in some in-,

stances a wire, strip of metal or similararticle has been rigidlyconnected to a form and rolled upon such form by pressure from a rolleror equivalent device. In the latter instance, however, the materialwaseither simply shaped without reduction, or the reduction was uniform ornearly so by the action of the rolling or pressing device. f

In the manufacture of articles such as spectacle bows, the wire employedis reduced to the shape required and it is left thicker at properintervals in order that the nose-piece and joint blocks may be solderedor brazed or otherwise secured to the thicker portions, therebydispensingwith, the separate plates that have heretofore been employedfor strengthening the parts where they are joined together. Toaccomplish this object it is indispensable that the thicker portions ofthe wire should be absolutely accurate in the distance between onethickened part and the other, otherwise the wire cannot be cut up 7 intothe lengths required for the manufacture to the wire or similarmaterial, after it has passed through between the rolls, a positivedrawing mechanism-with which the wire is firmly engaged, so that theWire as it isreduced to the proper thickness shall be drawn throughbetween the rolls at the proper speed in relation to such rolls, inorder that the thicker parts may be at the proper distances apartregardless of whether the rollsslip on the wire or not, and in someinstances it is advantageous to roll up the reduced wire upon a form ormandrel so that the thick-er parts are in line with each otherlongitudinally of such mandrel. I

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation illustrating the rolls madeuse of by me. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig; 3 representsaspectacle frame made up from the wire produced by this apparatus.

The form roll A is upon the shaft A that is driven by any suitablepower, such for instance as gearing or a belt tothe pulley O, and Brepresents a presser roller, and the peripheries of the form rollAandpresser roller Bare such that the material passing through between themshall receive the proper shape sectionally, and the surface of the formroll A is reduced or recessed as at 2, so that the material is leftthicker at these places than it is at the other places, and withwirethat is adapted to spectacle frames the recessed portions 2 are to be atsuch distances apart that the thicker portions of the wire will be leftwhere the nose-piece O is fastened to the bow P and where the jointblocks'Q are fastened to the ends of the bow wires; and it is to beunderstood that the recesses in the form roll and the shape of thesurfaces of the rolls A and B may be Varied according to the article ormaterial that is operated upon; and I remark that the roller B may be ofany desired character and it is preferably circular and free to revolveby frictional contact with the material passing through between the rollA and the roll B, and in cases where the reduction is comparativelysmall a stationary burnisher or equivalent device may be employed asthe'presser in place of the roller B.

If the devices thus far described alone were made use of, the form rollA,as it is rotated, might slip more or less upon the surface of the wireor material acted upon, and hence the thickened portions of the wirewould be at irregular and unreliable distances apart. In practice thishas been found the case, and to avoid this difficulty the wire or othermaterial that has passed through between the rolls A and B and therebybeen reduced, is grasped or firmly connected to a positively movingdevice in order that the material may be pulled along the exact distancerequiredbetween one thicker part and the next. Any suitable mechanismmay be used for this purpose, such for instance as a draw bench in whichthere is a rack moved along by a pinion, there being a pair of pinchersfor positively gripping the wire, or a roller and chain extending to thepinchers might take the place of the rack. These devices being wellknown do not require further description; but I remark that the devicethat pulls the wire along is to be positively connected to the form rollA as by gearing, so that one part cannot sllp or move at an incorrectspeed in Y relation to the other part.

In the manufacture of spectacle wire it is advantageous to wind up thewire upon a form, which form can be of a size corresponding to thespectacle bow or a multiple thereof, so that when the wire is wound up,all the thickened parts will be in line with each other longitudinallyof the mandrel or form upon which it is wound.

I have represented in Figs. 1 and 2 a drawing roll D having a stud orpin 3 around which 1 the bent end of the wire is hooked so that saidstud or pin 3 serves as a positive attachment for the end of the wire,but a hole for the insertion of the bent end of the wire, or

a positive clamping device may take the place 1 of this pin, and thisdrawing roll Dis upon a shaft E that receives a positive motion by thegears'G and II from the shaft A of the roller A, and the parts are soproportioned that the surface speed of the roll D is'as fast as thesurface speed of the roll A, and usually the-surface speed of the roll Dis to be faster than the surface speed of the roll A so that a tensionmay be applied to draw the wire through between the roll A and the rollB as it is reduced, and by varying the surface speed of the roll D inrelation to the surface speed of the rollA, slight variations in lengthbetween the thickened portions of the wire or other material may beeffected. The variation in the surface speed of the roll D. in relationto the surface speed of the roll A. may be effected in any desiredmanner, but aconvenient way is to slip off the roll D. and slip onanother of a larger or smaller diameter. Under all circumstances thesurface speed of the positive moving device with which the end of thereduced wire is attached must be as fast or faster than the wire wouldbe delivered by the action of the reducing rolls, otherwise the reducedwire would buckle and not be uniform. In all instances, however,

the distances between the thickened portions with a given adjustment orconstruction of the parts will be positive and reliable.

It is advantageous to wind up the wire in a helical or screw form uponthe roll D, and with this object in view such roll D is fitted to slideendwise upon the shaft E and the feather or spline 4 causes the roll Dto rotate with the shaft E and upon the roll D is a screw section I thatis of large diameter and runs in contact with the sectional nut K sothat the rotation of the screw I against the stationary nut.- sectionmoves the roll D along endwise and bodily as the winding up pro--grosses, so as to keep one convolution of the wire fromlapping upon theprevious convolution, and when the roll D is full ofthe wire the end maybe clamped orotherwise held in position and the roll D slipped otf theman drel and the wire marked upon the lines of separation, and removed,and then the roll D replaced for use as before, and with this'objcct inview the sectional nut K is preferably upon a lever L so that it can bethrown back out of the way or brought up intocontact with the screw Iand held in position by the clamping nut N represented in Fig. 1.

In the present invention the adjustment of the rolls nearer together orfarther-apart may be effected, so as to produce lighter or heavier wirefor spectacle bows, and this iseifected without necessarily varying thedistance be- :tween the thicker fparts, and the positive movement'of thedevice that draws the wire along after it has been reduced remainsunchanged. This is a great convenience, especially in making spectacleframes.

Any desired 'means for adjusting the distance between the rollers A. and13. may be employed. I have shown the arbor for the roll B. as upon aneccentric bushing or pin with an arm 10. and adjusting screw 11. by

which the arbor of said roll '13. can be raised or lowered.

I claim as my invention- 1. The means herein specified of rollingspectacle wire or other material consisting in a reducing roll and aform roll having recesses adapted to roll the material with the partsthat are thicker at regular intervals along its length in-combinationwith adevice with which the reduced wire is positively connected andgearing between the form roll and such connected device, whereby apositive progressive movement is given to such reduced material as fastor faster than the said material is-delivered by the rolling operationfor insuring uniformity in the distance between the thicker portionssubstantially as set forth.

2. A form roll having recesses adapted to the production of thespectacle wire or other material with portions of such materialthiekerthan other portions, in combination with a presser roll acting with theform roll, a winding mechanism and means for connectingthe reducedmaterial with the winding'mechan- IIO ism, and gearing between the formroll and the winding mechanism for giving to such winding mechanism apositive movement and insuring uniformity in the distance between thethicker portions upon the wire, substantiallyas set forth.

3. A presser roll and a form roll having re-' cesses by which thematerial passing through between the rolls is reduced and portions leftthicker than other portions, in combination with a drawing roll, meansfor connecting the reduced wire to the drawing roll, a shaft forrevolving the drawing roll and upon which such drawing roll is free tomove endwise, substantially as set forth.

4. A presser roll and a form roll having recesses by which the materialpassing through between the rolls is reduced and portions left thickerthan other portions, in combination with a drawing roll, means forconnecting the reduced wire to the drawing roll, a shaft for revolvingthe drawing roll and upon which such drawing roll is free to moveendwise, a screw upon such drawing roll, a stationary nut segment forgiving the end motion to the drawing roll, a lever carrying the nutsegment and by which it is thrown into or out of action, substantiallyas set forth.

6. The means herein specified of rolling spectacle wire or similarmaterial, consisting in a reducing roll and a form roll having recessesadapted to give to the wire the proper shape, in combination withdevices with which the reduced wire is positively connected, and meansfor giving to such connection a positive and unvarying motion slightlyfaster than the surface speed of the form roll, whereby a regulartension and progressive movement are given to the reduced material forinsuring uniformity in the distance between the thicker portionsthereof, substantially as set forth. s

Signed by me this 7th day of February, 1893.

F. ECAUBERT.

Witnesses:

GEo. T. PINcKNEY, A. M. OLIVER.

